Growing process works out for title-hungry Elon men’s tennis team

By Adam Smith / Times-News

Published: Friday, April 19, 2013 at 12:26 AM.

ELON — Looking back, with the Southern Conference Tournament beginning in full today on its home turf, the evolution of the Elon University men’s tennis team can be measured by its top-seeded arrival at this moment.

The frustratingly narrow losses that have become rewarding victories.

The struggles with youth that have become steps forward in identity and demeanor.

The growing pains that have become a regular-season championship in the league.

“We’ve had so many bumps in the road,” sophomore Jordan Kaufman said. “I feel like all the downs that we’ve been through, I think we’ve learned and been able to put that behind us and build off that.

“This is definitely a good feeling. But it’s definitely something we’re not satisfied with. We want to keep it going.”

For Elon (15-7), that means navigating the tournament’s three-matches-in-three-days proposition, starting with this morning’s assignment against eighth-seeded Furman (9-13), and reaching the NCAA regionals for the first time since 2007.

ELON — Looking back, with the Southern Conference Tournament beginning in full today on its home turf, the evolution of the Elon University men’s tennis team can be measured by its top-seeded arrival at this moment.

The frustratingly narrow losses that have become rewarding victories.

The struggles with youth that have become steps forward in identity and demeanor.

The growing pains that have become a regular-season championship in the league.

“We’ve had so many bumps in the road,” sophomore Jordan Kaufman said. “I feel like all the downs that we’ve been through, I think we’ve learned and been able to put that behind us and build off that.

“This is definitely a good feeling. But it’s definitely something we’re not satisfied with. We want to keep it going.”

For Elon (15-7), that means navigating the tournament’s three-matches-in-three-days proposition, starting with this morning’s assignment against eighth-seeded Furman (9-13), and reaching the NCAA regionals for the first time since 2007.

The Phoenix is led by Cameron Silverman, the league’s newly crowned Player of the Year, and coach Michael Leonard, an Elon alum, who has guided the program to its fourth Southern Conference regular-season title in eight years.

A year ago, most of this group experienced a sometimes difficult acclimatization process to college tennis, a foundation laid by adversity.

For example, Juan Madrid joined the team from Spain and three days later played his first match for the Phoenix.

“I didn’t know anything in America,” Madrid said. “It was crazy.”

Elon lost 15 of its 24 matches during the 2012 season. The last five losses came by oh-so-close margins of 4-3 final scores.

“Over and over and over,” Leonard said of those slim defeats. “When you lose matches like that, either you’re going to learn from it, it’s going to motivate you, it’s going to make you hungry and you want that other taste, of victory. Or you hope it doesn’t do the other thing, which is make you lack confidence.

“And for us, it motivated us. We took that as a challenge for what we wanted to do this year.”

This season has been marked by course-turning moments.

Leonard said Elon was grasping at its potential in early February, when the Phoenix had match point at North Carolina State, before that opportunity ended as an encouraging loss.

But then, a month later, Elon dropped a match at home against USC Upstate. It was a jarring loss. The next day, a Sunday, the Phoenix cleared the air with two team meetings.

“We really talked about what we wanted to be and what we wanted to see out of ourselves as a team,” Kaufman said. “I think those meetings showed how we wanted to carry ourselves for the rest of the season. It was very productive. We really needed that. And then from that point, we started playing the way we wanted to.”

Elon’s answer was emphatic. An eight-match winning streak ensued, with Leonard increasingly demanding a businesslike approach and the Phoenix responding.

That run culminated with a pair of 5-2 victories at Chattanooga and Samford on back-to-back days. Madrid said Elon put toughness on display during that road trip, and certain thoughts started to crystallize.

“I think that was the point where we said, ‘OK, we can do something big,’ ” Madrid said. “That weekend was a reflection point, like, ‘Guys, we can do it. Why not.’ ”

Last Friday, Elon teammates gathered at Kaufman’s place to follow two Southern Conference matches online. The Phoenix had clinched at least a share of the league’s regular-season title earlier in the week. Losses by Samford and UNC Greensboro would deliver Elon, at 8-2 in the league, with the outright championship.

Both required upsets.

Both happened, with shorthanded Georgia Southern taking down Samford along with College of Charleston staging a rally in singles to defeat UNCG — while the crowd at Kaufman’s swelled around the computer in size and joy.

“Everyone came on over,” Kaufman said. “It was a beautiful day. We celebrated outside, just going crazy. We were all pumped up for each other. It was a great feeling, because we’ve worked so hard this season.”

Now, Elon embarks on the league tournament in its own backyard, with the chance to make this special season even more memorable.

Silverman has returned to health after a stomach virus this month — he didn’t eat for 72 hours — forced him to miss two matches (losses to Georgia Southern and UNCG) and retire in another.

“Our biggest thing with this team is to be professional,” Leonard said. “So we talk about being ready and preparing the night before and doing all the little things that make you champions. If we’re doing those things, then everything else takes care of itself.”